Microsoft SkyDrive Vs. Dropbox, Google: Hands-On

How does Microsoft's improved cloud filesharing and storage service stack up against the biggest names on the market? Consider a Dropbox fan's experience.

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I abandoned my Hotmail account in 2005. Rather than try to resurrect that login, I figured it was time for a fresh start. No great revelation here, but signing up for a new Microsoft account was easy. If you've already got one, you're a minute or two ahead of the game. Microsoft, as it should, adds layers of security protection here and elsewhere in SkyDrive. In this case, it was a simple verification email: "Call us overprotective, but we need to verify that [Email Address] is yours." Once you complete that verification, you're done.

I'm a hard core Dropbox and Google Docs user and have been for a long while. As of few months ago, I started exploring SkyDrive and it's capabilities. Shortly after, I started falling in love with it for several reasons. Firstly, Microsoft, for free, gave me a total of 27 GB for for life and it's something I couldn't ignore. Secondly, unlike Dropbox and Google Docs, I'm able to organize all of my folders and files the way my hart desires. Their structure really attempts to prevent users from having a mess of files. Thirdly, the recent overhaul of Outlook. com and SkyDrive makes it a lot more inciting to completely convert. The new design is simple and very user friendly, it ensures productivity, and best of all their ads are not as annoying as other providers. They only show up when you hover over them. I can certainly live with that (or I may just block them all together via an extension)!

I have in recent years been avoiding any Microsoft cloud related products since they rapidly have fell behind the curve and were no longer innovating. But, Microsoft is surprisingly managing to impress me.

WHY did Information Week do this??? Spread this out in small paragraphs so they could put hundreds of millions of ads in between. SHAME ON YOU INFORMATION WEEK!!! I used to think you had more class than this but now that you've sunk to the level of the Economy, I'm completely turned off.

Where's the "view in one page" feature??? Did you not want people to read the entire article or was this just for the advertisers? WOW! You've sunk lower than the Economy for usre.

I do use SkyDrive because it's easy and there's plenty of "free" space. I did use Dropbox but not enough. However, Microsoft makes all it's software to work with all its other software so there shouldn't be any problems when you use products like SkyDrive.

I do recommend using it because if you forget your USB, you won't look foolish in front of your boss, your competitors or coworkers. It's like emailing your homework to yourself so when it's time to turn it in, you're grade, an A, is ready to slide onto the page.

Some editors talk as if Dropbox, Google Drive or SkyDrive is the best or the first cloud storage service provider. In reality, that's not true. Their reviews are usually only based on the storage price for consumers. However, it is important to note that many service providers have much higher prices for businesses than for consumers. For example, Dropbox, Box and Google Drive have different pricing for business services. Dropbox for Business starts at $795/user/year + $125/user/year for each additional user licenses. Google Drive charges $50-$100/user/year (incl 30GB storage space), additional storage space for business service is twice as much as for consumer services. Box charges $180/user/year for business services.

I have worked for DriveHQ since 2006. Founded in 2003, DriveHQ is the first cloud IT solution provider with over 2 million registered users. For business service, you will find DriveHQ service a lot better and cheaper at only $6/user/year. You can find more detailed comparisons and reviews on: http://www.drivehq.com/help/solution/ExpertReviews.aspx

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Chances are your organization is adopting cloud computing in one way or another -- or in multiple ways. Understanding the skills you need and how cloud affects IT operations and networking will help you adapt.